Oxygen quota: Siddaramaiah welcomes SC's decision to reject Centre's plea against Karnataka HC

Former Chief Minister and Opposition leader Siddaramaiah on Friday welcomed Supreme Court's decision to dismiss the appeal made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led central government challenging the Karnataka High Court order to increase the daily quota of medical oxygen for the state of Karnataka as 1200MT amid the second wave of pandemic.

The Supreme Court rejected the Central government's plea against the direction issued by Karnataka High Court to increase the daily quota of medical ozygen for the state as 1200MT.

Taking to Twitter, Siddaramaiah wrote, "I welcome the decision of Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal made by BJP government against High Court order to supply 1200 MT of oxygen to Karnataka."

"Supreme Court has saved the lives of many patients by dismissing the appeal made by BJP," he said in another tweet.

On Friday, the apex court refused to entertain a petition filed by the Centre, against a direction of the state's High Court's order on May 5, directing the supply of oxygen to the state to upto 1200 MT per day instead of the current allocation of 965 MT.

The Centre had sought a direction from the top court to put a stay on the order.

A bench chaired by two judges of the Supreme Court - Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Justice M R Shah - refused to pay heed to the petition filed by the Union of India (UOI).

According to Siddaramaiah, the state needs 1600-1700 MT of oxygen to treat COVID-infected patients.

He said, " Karnataka needs 1600-1700 MT of oxygen to treat its patients. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allocated only 965 MT."

According to the Union Health Ministry, Karnataka has 5,17,095 active COVID cases.

( With inputs from ANI )